Motor Launch ML-286

Motor Launch ML-286 is a First World War submarine chaser built by Elco, that saw action with Royal Navy. It is also listed as one of the Little Ships that were used in the 1940, Dunkirk evacuation. It is currently in a very poor condition and lies on the banks of the River Thames at Isleworth Ait. ML-286 is the last surviving Royal Naval 'Motor Launch' of the more than 550 that served in the First World War.[1]

Motor Launch of the same type drawn by Lieutenant Geoffrey Allfree
Class overview
Builders: Elco
Operators:  Royal Navy
Completed: 580
General characteristics ML.1-50 series
Type: Motor Launch
Displacement: 37 tons
Length: 80ft
Draft: 4ft
Propulsion: 2× 220hp 4cyl petrol engine
Speed: 19 kn (35 km/h)
Complement: 8
Sensors and
processing systems:		 Hydrophone
Armament:

World War I service

The first motor launches entered service in the First World War. These were 580 80-foot-long (24 m) vessels built by the US Elco company for the Admiralty, receiving the designations ML-1 to ML-580. They served between 1916 and the end of the war with the Royal Navy defending the British coast from German submarines. Her first commander was the War artist, Lieutenant Geoffrey Allfree (1889–1918)[2]

Dunkirk and post-war conversion to a house boat

After the War ML286 was sold off by the Ministry and was given the name Cordon Rouge and then later, in 1930 she became Eothen which was her name at Dunkirk.[3] She returned to Ramsgate and towed to Teddington. She was requisitioned for service as an auxiliary patrol vessel in the Thames but found to be unsuitable, and later was returned to her owners in August of 1940.[4]

Current condition

Currently, Eothen (ML-286) lies in a very poor condition on the banks of the River Thames. It is being monitored and recorded by volunteer members of the Thames Discovery Programme (TDP) based at Museum of London Archaeology (MOLA).[5]

See also

References
  1. "Isleworth Ait submarine chaser: The Eothen". MOLA.org. Retrieved 19 December 2018.
  2. "Geoffrey Allfree 1889–1918". thamesdiscovery.org. Retrieved 17 December 2018.
  3. Brann, Christian (1 November 1989). The Little Ships of Dunkirk. Collectors Books. ISBN 0946604029.
  4. "Eothen". Association of Dunkirk Little Ships Association of Dunkirk Little Ships. Retrieved 17 December 2018.
  5. Firth, Antony. "ML 286 – A Little Ship with a Big History". fjordr.com. Retrieved 8 January 2020.

Further reading
  • Gordon S. Maxwell; Donald Maxwell (1920). The Motor Launch Patrol. J.M. Dent and Sons.
  • W. W. Nutting (1920). Cinderellas of the Fleet.
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